Fool's errands

America's Recent Encounters with Nation Building

President Bush says "we're not into nation-building" in Afghanistan. Judging by recent experiences, he's probably right. In the decade following the end of the Cold War, the Clinton administration undertook several nation-building projects around the globe, all of which have failed. It was said we'd bring order to Somalia, but we left chaos. We went to Haiti to restore democracy, but produced tyranny. We intervened in Bosnia and Kosovo to create multiethnic democracies, but instead oversee militarized protectorates. Please join us for a timely forum as the authors of Fool's Errands: America's Recent Encounters with Nation Building discuss the lessons and the future of Washington's nation building and James Pinkerton provides comments and criticism in light of possible events in Afghanistan and elsewhere. less